Fender Mustang Club

[dmt]

Shield it

(Of course, there’s no crime in buying different pickups - but if you need shielding, shield it. And also of course, one can certainly do both shielding and new pickups; I have myself. Good luck getting it all sorted out)

 

[Bassndrums73]

Looks like you did an excellent job on yours!

 

[OtherLisa]

Fellow Pony lovers: What are your favorite choices for PU upgrades for the Mustang PJ? I wanted to just swap the Jazz pickup for a noiseless one but those only come in sets, so it might be easier to swap out both the J and P's. Fender does the Yosemite and I gather those are an upgrade but curious to get your opinions here.

 

[TK4261]

Fellow Pony lovers: What are your favorite choices for PU upgrades for the Mustang PJ? I wanted to just swap the Jazz pickup for a noiseless one but those only come in sets, so it might be easier to swap out both the J and P's. Fender does the Yosemite and I gather those are an upgrade but curious to get your opinions here.

I ended up putting the Nordstrand Blade pickups in mine. Love these pickups. They are very quiet and clean sounding pickups...I also added copper shielding to my Mustang.

 

[OtherLisa]

I ended up putting the Nordstrand Blade pickups in mine. Love these pickups. They are very quiet and clean sounding pickups...I also added copper shielding to my Mustang.

View attachment 3713703

Pretty!

Mine already has some shielding and also a Badass bridge. I realized that so far what I've seen of the upgraded Mustangs, the necks are thicker and chunkier than the PJ, and I like the PJ neck so I figured I might as well upgrade the one I already like.

 

[JimmyM]

Fellow Pony lovers: What are your favorite choices for PU upgrades for the Mustang PJ? I wanted to just swap the Jazz pickup for a noiseless one but those only come in sets, so it might be easier to swap out both the J and P's. Fender does the Yosemite and I gather those are an upgrade but curious to get your opinions here.

I'm married to EMG Geezers for that kind of thing.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

Fellow Pony lovers: What are your favorite choices for PU upgrades for the Mustang PJ? I wanted to just swap the Jazz pickup for a noiseless one but those only come in sets, so it might be easier to swap out both the J and P's. Fender does the Yosemite and I gather those are an upgrade but curious to get your opinions here.

I think you can just do some searches for PJ sets, they don’t have to be specific to the mustang. If you have an idea of what you want to change, that will help guide you.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

I ended up putting the Nordstrand Blade pickups in mine. Love these pickups. They are very quiet and clean sounding pickups...I also added copper shielding to my Mustang.

View attachment 3713703

That looks awesome! I have the blade J pickup along with an NP5 (which is really a 5 string NP4A), and they match up really well. It’s an interesting blend.

 

[CPB2019]

I'm married to EMG Geezers for that kind of thing.

If I were to change (not planning to; I’ve got a vintera and am happy with the pickups), I’d go EMG Geezers as well. I’ve got them on an Ibanez Mikro and am very fond of them.

 

[Bassndrums73]

This might be a stupid question but I’m going to ask anyway because I don’t know the answer.........and because I’m stupid. If I do buy the Fender noiseless Gen 4 pickups that come in a set, the bridge pickup by itself is still noiseless right? It doesn’t take both of them to cancel each other out right? I’m assuming each pickup is made so it’s noiseless by itself?

 

[PotsdamBass8]

This might be a stupid question but I’m going to ask anyway because I don’t know the answer.........and because I’m stupid. If I do buy the Fender noiseless Gen 4 pickups that come in a set, the bridge pickup by itself is still noiseless right? It doesn’t take both of them to cancel each other out right? I’m assuming each pickup is made so it’s noiseless by itself?

Yes. It’ll be noiseless on its own. I don’t think it’s possible to have P and J pickups hum cancel each other. A P is always hum canceling though.

 

[JimmyM]

Yes. It’ll be noiseless on its own. I don’t think it’s possible to have P and J pickups hum cancel each other. A P is always hum canceling though.

You're right. It's not possible. That's why all my J pickups in my PJ's are humbucking. I'll sacrifice that tiny little bit of treble I don't want anyway

 

[PotsdamBass8]

You're right. It's not possible. That's why all my J pickups in my PJ's are humbucking. I'll sacrifice that tiny little bit of treble I don't want anyway

I never really minded until last year, playing a HS musical and my single coil J was humming from the bad wiring in the building. Had to stick with the P the rest of the week. On the Mustang, I opted to go for the HC pickup so I don’t have to worry!

 

[Bassndrums73]

humbucking

Ok Jimmy I’ve seen you praise the EMG Geezer Butlers before and I’ve been reading a bit about them and found a diagram for them with dimensions. I’m going to measure the ones in my new bass to make sure they will drop right in. Looks like they come with solderless connection wiring which should make them easier to install. The J pickup is humbucking. Going to give them a try.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

Ok Jimmy I’ve seen you praise the EMG Geezer Butlers before and I’ve been reading a bit about them and found a diagram for them with dimensions. I’m going to measure the ones in my new bass to make sure they will drop right in. Looks like they come with solderless connection wiring which should make them easier to install. The J pickup is humbucking. Going to give them a try.

Just FYI, I think the solderless connections will only be completely solderless if you’re replacing all components, which would mean swapping the 3 way switch for a pot in that position. I’m not sure the wires are long enough to reach that position. You will likely have to do some soldering. You can just remove the connectors from the wires though and they will solder just like any other wire.

 

[Bassndrums73]

Thanks. When I receive them with the wire kit supplied I’ll check that out.

 

[Bassndrums73]

I ordered a set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups and received this message from the store.

Thank you for your purchase. While this is the most common size PJ bass pickup set with the jazz pickup measuring 3.70 - 3.75 inches in length there are a couple basses that use the short J in the bridge instead of the normal long J in the bridge. The short J measures at 3.59 - 3.62 inches in length. Spector basses and some newer Squier PJ basses.

I’m going to measure the J pickup when I get home from work just to be sure I get the right one. Just thought I would post this so anyone thinking of ordering these makes sure to get the right ones to fit their bass. I thought they would all be the same size but apparently not.

 

[Florinda4]

Fellow Pony lovers: What are your favorite choices for PU upgrades for the Mustang PJ? I wanted to just swap the Jazz pickup for a noiseless one but those only come in sets, so it might be easier to swap out both the J and P's. Fender does the Yosemite and I gather those are an upgrade but curious to get your opinions here.

Matched PJ set Lindy Fralin custom pups. Master bass tech who did the mods ordered them from LF with the 2-coil linear humbucker J pup overwound 10% to match power of their vintage 60s P pup.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

I ordered a set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups and received this message from the store.

Thank you for your purchase. While this is the most common size PJ bass pickup set with the jazz pickup measuring 3.70 - 3.75 inches in length there are a couple basses that use the short J in the bridge instead of the normal long J in the bridge. The short J measures at 3.59 - 3.62 inches in length. Spector basses and some newer Squier PJ basses.

I’m going to measure the J pickup when I get home from work just to be sure I get the right one. Just thought I would post this so anyone thinking of ordering these makes sure to get the right ones to fit their bass. I thought they would all be the same size but apparently not.

The bass uses the standard bridge sized pickup, not the neck. I actually bought a JJ set used to go along with the P that I bought, and can tell you for sure that it’s the bridge sized pickup that fits.

 

[Daniel Brady]

Hi,
Got this beauty today, love the sound of it, was going to change out the fender flats to the la Bella MUS ones but they sound great so they're staying for the time being. Can I get a number?